Siyahlι: Black Phoenix
by Legacy Undying
Summary: With the Balance in danger, the 'ifrit decide to set in motion the events that will change the world. When Lucius Malfoy finds a black phoenix in the black market, he never thought he would end up falling for Harry Potter. Or staging a coup. Or see his son kiss another man, or three. To be honest, Lucius just wants his phoenix back. Dark!Harry, Light bashing, SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
1. Prologue

Late at night an almost regular looking man was traveling slowly through Little Whinging.

Eski walked slowly down the street, glancing at the horribly plebeian houses. The 'ifrit was looking for the One That Changes. So far, he'd had no luck. The magicians of the Light had many powerful wards that inconvenienced beings like him. It was quite frustrating. However, it was slightly amusing that they thought the wards could actually keep someone as powerful as him out.

The ancient 'ifrit knew that the Light's time of ruling was over. Light and Dark each had to have time to rule, or the Balance would be thrown. Light had ruled for too long. Dark needed it's time on the throne. Kâhin had seen the birth and rise of the One That Changes. However, the 'Dark Lord' stood in the way of Siyahlι, meaning the Dark Beings had to step in and... help.

One of the weaker wards surrounded the dwellings in this town. Passing through it, he compared the feeling to walking through seaweed covered in troll boogers.

Eski snarled at the bland hovels surrounding him. He dearly hoped that the One That Changes didn't live in any of these dwellings. Taking a deep breath, the 'ifrit closed his eyes. Reaching into his core, he grabbed the magic buried inside of him. Pulling the power into his eyes, he adjusted the way his eyes saw the world. He had hoped he wouldn't have to use this ability, because there was a chance he might see another Dark presence, and mistake that for the One That Changes.

If he mistook someone else for Siyahlι, doing what was necessary could kill any normal mortal. If a human died because of the power resting in Eski, the Light would be warned, and the element of surprise would be lost. That would be the best case scenario. In the worst case, the mortal would survive, and be revered by the Dark, when they weren't supposed to be. And then they would begin a campaign in the name of the Dark that would further their own goals, ruining the very Balance that the Dark was trying to preserve.

Opening his eyes, Eski gasped. He needn't have worried. The whole street was saturated in pure Dark. One house in particular was dripping in the sheer shadow of the One That Changes' power. Eski hesitated. The only other being he had seen with such raw Darkness was Karanlιk, the Dark One himself. He wasn't sure he could actually do what was necessary. Growling at himself, Eski shook the doubt from his mind. Kâhin wouldn't have sent him if he couldn't accomplish this.

Stalking over to the house covered in Dark, the 'ifrit crept to the door. He scoffed. Mortals were so foolish. Sliding one clawed hand to the side of the door, he slipped one claw into the thin space. Pulling his hand up, he felt the lock separate like the finest silk around his claw. Once the locks were sliced, he gently pushed the door open. Some of the lock pieces fell out of their designated holes in the wall. Gliding silently into the hallway, Eski looked around, trying to find Siyahlι.

Following the Dark to a small space under the stairs, Eski found his blood begin to heat and burn. The magicless mortals put the One That Changes under the stairs?! Like an old pair of shoes one doesn't bother to throw out?!

Eski could feel a feral snarl unfurling in his throat. Choking it down, Eski forced himself to calm down. Reaching out, the 'ifrit slid his claw through the lock again, and opened the door, preparing for the worst. To his immense relief, there was only an oddly shaped chest in the tiny space. The chest was covered in Dark though, so Eski knew the chest belonged to Siyahlι. Grabbing the chest, Eski pulled it out, closing the door after. Looking around, he decided to leave the chest in front of the main door.

Once he'd done that, he began to explore the first floor. There wasn't much to see, unfortunately. So he approached the stairs. Placing his feet lightly on the steps, he climbed the stairs slowly. As he got further up, he could hear loud snores coming from down the upstairs hall. At the landing, he walked slowly down the hall. The Dark was almost radiating out of the last door on the left. Reaching the door, Eski had to bite back another snarl. There were several locks on this door.

Forcing himself to move gently, he slid his claw through the locks for a third time that night. pushing the door open, he walked into the room. The owl in the corner looked at him with indignation. However, all of Eski's attention was riveted on the small boy sleeping on a dirty mattress.

He was far too small for being supposedly fourteen, almost fifteen. He was also very thin. His pale skin almost glowed in the moonlight coming through the window. However, Siyahlι's hair was like the pitch black of the deepest caves, or the dark of the moon. It was enough to make Eski want to ignore his orders and just take the boy back to the Palace. However, he had his orders, and the 'ifrit knew what would happen if he disobeyed them.

Walking to the boy, he reached out and placed one clawed hand on his head. Gently, so as to not hurt him, Eski placed the other over his heart.

Murmuring in another language that not even Eski truly understood, he slowly pushed all of his magic and power into the boy, gently giving Siyahlι's own power direction. He watched as the boy's magic pulsed and swirled. Feeling his eyes widen, Eski gaped as the One That Changes slowly began to morph into something else.

Eski watched as feathers slowly erupted over the boy's skin, just as black as his hair. His nose and mouth hardened into a beak, as his hair was quietly replaced by more feathers. With a soft swishing sound, his bones hollowed and shifted position. Eski felt his breath catch in his throat as the One That Changes shrunk, feathers sprouting, and bones rearranging. Within moments, where a mortal human boy once lay, a brilliantly beautiful bird now slept. The Dark that had radiated from the human now blazed from the phoenix.

"Karanlιk tarafιndan!" Eski breathed. He gazed at the small bird with awe. He knew that Siyahlι meant 'Black Phoenix', but he had thought it was metaphorical rather than literal! Eski felt tears gather in his ancient eyes at the sight of the black phoenix in front of him. Running a shaking hand gently down feathers, he caught a sob from escaping.

It felt like millenia since he had last seen a shadow phoenix. The last one had been killed by cruel mortals that thought the birds were omens of destruction. However, despite their reputation, shadow phoenixes were no more evil than flame phoenixes. They simply hailed the Dark. Eski bit his lip to keep sobs from bursting out of him. Siyahlι was truly the beacon of hope for the Dark. Stepping away from the bird, he looked one last time at the precious creature. Turning, he picked up the cage the owl was in, swiftly walking from the room. Almost running down the stairs, he winced as the white bird began to screech. He guessed that the power in the room was what had kept her silent until now.

With violent screams echoing around the house, Eski bent down and picked up the chest at the main door. Walking out of the dwelling, he could hear the mortals waking up. He felt sick to his stomach at the thought that he was leaving the One That Changes in that horrid house. However, Kâhin had been adamant. He was to find the One That Changes, help the boy's magic to find its way, and take all traces of the boy back to the Palace, leaving Siyahlι there. Gagging on his sobs, Eski dragged the screeching bird and the odd chest as far from the house dripping in Dark as he could. Once he felt the wards from the Light fall away from him, he wrapped the shadows around himself and allowed the Dark to pull him back to the Palace, leaving the only shadow phoenix on the earth in a hovel in a bland town.

~o*o~

**Legacy Undying, here. Hope you enjoyed the first bit of this story. I'll be switching between ****_How to Live_**** and ****_Siyahlι_**** for a while. No garantee which one I'll update next, but I'll try to be semi-reguar about it.**

**DISCLAIMER: Last I checked, J. K. Rowling didn't need to write fanfiction. I mean, she could if she wanted to. But I doubt it.**


	2. Chapter 1

He could hear screaming and what sounded like Hedwig throwing a fit, but he couldn't seem to make anything work properly. His eyes didn't want to open, his ears weren't really working right either. His arms felt weird, along with his legs. And he felt really, really hot.

Trying to shrug of his blanket, Harry groaned. Unfortunately, it sounded more like a squawk than a groan. Come to think of it, it felt kind of like there was hair covering his entire body. Except it didn't really feel like hair, either. Deciding he needed to see what was going on, Harry blearily peeled his eyes open.

To see Dudley reaching his fat, pudgy hand towards his face.

Screaming in fear, Harry tried to bolt upright. He managed to flail around and flap his arms like a chicken.

"Mummy! The funny black bird is moving!"

Harry stopped and looked at Dudley. _ 'Black bird? What bird? I'm the only thing here, you idiot!'_

Before Harry could say that though, Aunt Petunia stalked into his room, scowling like a goblin.

"That good for nothing boy left! He took his freakish things and left! Ungrateful little brat! And then he leaves us with this... thing! The nerve of that whelp! Is this the sort of thing they teach in that school of his?"

He gaped at his aunt. His things were gone? Hedwig? What was happening?!

**"Aunt Petunia! I'm right here! What's going on? Listen to me!"**

His aunt looked over at Harry and scowled. Moving faster than Harry thought possible, she swooped down and wrapped her bony hand around his neck. Lifting him into the air, she sneered at him. Even through Harry's confusion and fear, he was amazed that Aunt Petunia was capable of sneering exactly like Snape. Maybe they took lessons from the same place.

Petunia walked out of his room and down the hall. Vernon looked up at his wife from the bottom of the stairs.

"What is that thing, Tuney?"

"I don't know, and I'm not going to find out," she snapped back. Walking into the kitchen, Harry watched as his aunt began rooting around in the cupboards.

"Vernon! I need a box big enough to fit this thing!"

Harry squawked in distress. A box?! Why was she going to put him in a box?

**"What are you doing? I'm not a bird! Somebody help me!"** Harry screamed. He waved his arms to try and get his relatives attention when he saw two black wings flap into his vision. Freezing, Harry slowly moved his arms, watching as the wings moved in the way he directed his arms. Beginning to get a very bad feeling, Harry did his best to look down at his body while his neck was in his aunt's grasp.

Black feathers covered his obviously avian body. His legs were still legs, but he now had a tail of long, pitch black feathers as well. Screeching, Harry began to flap his wings with earnest. He didn't know what Aunt Petunia would do to such an obviously strange bird, but it wasn't good. Feeling large, pudgy hands grab his wings, he began to panic. Vernon wouldn't break his wings, would he? Even he wasn't that cruel, right?

Right?

* * *

Apparently, Vernon was that cruel. After viciously snapping the fragile bones of his right wing, his aunt and uncle had shoved his into an old box they found in the shed in the back yard. It was left over from one of Dudley's various toys.

Crammed into the too small box, Harry shivered miserably. Something was very wrong. He was a bird, somebody had taken Hedwig, and his relatives were taking him somewhere.

After Vernon had broken his wing, Harry had begun screaming in pain. Dudley had started throwing a fit about the noise, and before he could really register what was going on, he'd been shoved unceremoniously into the cardboard box. Harry had been able to feel his aunt carrying the box outside, and shoving him into the car. His aunt hadn't bothered to make sure the box was firmly on the back seat, so he'd ended up falling in between the driver's seat and the back.

He'd heard Aunt Petunia yell at Uncle Vernon to "Take that scrawny, demonic pigeon out to the countryside and get rid of it!"

Uncle Vernon hadn't argued, just gotten into the car and began driving. Harry was flopped over on his right side, squashing his broken wing. He was also slightly upside down. It was the most uncomfortable position he'd ever been in.

Harry sat there, quietly. He didn't dare move, afraid he'd hurt himself more than he already was. He was also afraid of making any noise. He didn't want to bring attention to himself.

He tried to think of anything that might have caused him to change into a bird.

Did he drink a strange potion within the last six months?

No.

Did he get hit with a mysterious spell in the last six months?

Yes, but Madame Pomfrey would have found any effects when she took care of him after the graveyard.

Did anything strange happen to him in the last six months?

Harry snorted, which sounded like a sneeze in bird form.

Who was he kidding? His whole life was strange!

_'Okay, so nothing happened that I can tell. Partway through the summer I fell asleep and when I woke up, I was a bird.'_ Harry thought about that sentence for a few moments. _'Why does that not sound as bizarre as it should? And why am I so calm about all of this? I mean, I'm a _bird_, for Merlin's sake! And my arm, no wing is broken, not to mention the fact that I'm in a box, being driven to who knows where! Oh, great! _Now_ I'm panicking!'_

Harry took gulping breaths to try and calm his heart, which was beating so fast, he couldn't tell the difference between individual heartbeats. Swallowing, he discovered that his throat was suddenly dry. Almost panting, he squeezed his eyes shut and tried to breath deeply. It wasn't working. His heaving lungs were making his chest push his broken wing against the side of the box, which just made it hurt more. The pain made it hard to think about calming down, which meant he kept breathing fast, which meant his wing got shoved into the box again. This was a vicious cycle.

Harry shut his eyes as tightly as he could, and stuck his tongue out of his mouth, before he snapped his beak shut.

"Qwaaaaak!"

Harry snapped his eyes open and did his best to look at his tongue. That had hurt! A lot more than he thought it would have.

"Shut up, you bloody pigeon! Or I'll pull over and wring your scrawny neck!"

Harry froze at the sound of his uncle's voice. While no longer panicking, thanks to his shock at how much pain his beak could cause, he was still very scared.

Somehow, Harry didn't doubt that Uncle Vernon would carry out his threat.

* * *

Harry knew that it wasn't smart to doze, but he figured shock was setting in.

Which was why he was startled when he felt the box he was in being yanked out of the gap between the back and the driver's seat. Squawking in protest of the rough treatment, Harry felt the lumbering steps of his uncle carrying him away from where the man had parked the car.

"Now I never want to see you again, you understand? Do you?" The question was punctuated by Uncle Vernon violently shaking the box, rattling Harry around, and jostling his wing. Screeching in pain, Harry was unprepared for the unsettling sensation of being thrown into the air.

Surprise prevented him from responding to the fact that his uncle had thrown the box he was in. Feeling disoriented, Harry didn't move for the seconds his box was in the air. Then his body exploded with agony, as the box, with Harry in it, slammed into the ground. The old cardboard split open from the impact, leaving Harry to roll out. His head spinning, Harry watched as a large figure he guessed was his uncle walked away from where he'd fallen, disappearing behind some tall grass. Too dizzy to do anything, he listened to the dull roar of the car engine as Vernon revved it, and the fading crunch of the road as his uncle drove away.

Letting his head fall to the ground, Harry tried to catch the breath his fall had knocked out of him. Taking deep gulping breaths that caused a dull ache in his chest as his lungs tried to recover from their bashing, Harry remained still, laying on the ground. As his breath came back, he began a mental inventory of his injuries. Right wing; broken. Chest; very sore, possibly bruised ribs, said bruised ribs unlikely, however. Left leg; also sore, definitely bruised. So, not as bad as it could be, but certainly not good.

When he figured he could move again, he shifted around slowly, trying not to hurt his already injured wing. Managing to turn himself around so that he was on his stomach, Harry pulled his legs slowly underneath him. Using his left wing to help, he managed to push himself so that he was standing.

Trying to pull his left wing up against his side, Harry felt disgusted with himself when he succeeded in making the stupid appendage flutter uselessly. Trying again, he flapped his wing violently, which jerked his whole body around, causing his right wing to spasm with pain. After Harry finally stopped gasping from pain, he decided to declare his wings a lost cause.

Walking in a tiny circle, Harry finally began to get a sense of how much trouble he was in. All he could see was a large field covered in tall grass. When he stood as high as he could, his head poked out of the grass, allowing him to see the asphalt road that stretched on and on to either direction. Looking around, Harry felt a level of fear he hadn't known until facing Voldemort in the graveyard of Little Hangleton.

Aside from the road, there was nothing. Genuinely nothing. The tall grass stretched on for as far as he could see, and there didn't even look like there were towns at the edge of the horizon.

He was in the middle of nowhere, as a bird, with a broken wing.

* * *

Bertholt Everard was an opportunist. When he found a good opportunity, he usually took advantage of it. His instincts were good, often leading him to 'unique' situations that he could use.

So when his instincts told him to go to the empty field near his house, he went. When his instincts told him to cast a Disillusionment Charm over himself, he did. When his instincts told him to stay put when the fat Muggle drove up, he stayed.

And now he knew why.

He'd hit the jackpot.

* * *

Something was wrong. Harry didn't know what, he just knew that something was. He crouched down in the grass next to the broken box. He felt like he was being watched.

Or hunted.

Swallowing, Harry began creeping through the grass, trying to go somewhere else. Wincing at the amount of noise his dragging wings caused, Harry tried to move quietly. He listened carefully for any noise that wasn't caused by him. Looking around warily, he began to lower himself as far to the ground as he could, his belly almost touching the dirt.

Snp.

Harry froze. Looking down, he felt his blood run cold. There were no twigs under his feet to have caused the noise.

"Hello, pretty."

Harry snapped his head around and locked eyes with a tall, skinny man. Abruptly, Harry felt a wave of greed come rushing at him. With a terrified squawk, he began running away from the man. Dashing through the grass, Harry could feel the thudding of the man running after him. Panic fueled Harry, causing him to run faster.

"Come back here, ya bloody bird!"

_'You want me to come back, fine!'_ Harry thought with zeal.

Spinning around, Harry raced back towards the skinny man, and ran right past him, leaving the human to stumble and curse.

Adrenaline coursing through Harry, he didn't notice the Stunning spell until he felt something hit his back, throwing him forwards to the ground and unconsciousness.

* * *

**Hey, so what do you think? I know that Harry getting turned into a phoenix isn't the most original thing ever, but it's still a new spin on the idea, right?**

**Oh, yeah! I wanted to tell all you guys that I've got a poll up! It's on who Draco's three men mentioned in the summary should be. I'm not going to promise to use the top three guys, but there's a good chance I will, because right now there's nothing definite that needs to happen with Draco. Which means unless something huge pops up, the top three guys will probably be the ones in the actual story.**

**Well, that's it for now. Sorry to all who wanted me to update How to Live, there isn't any inspiration for that story right now. But I'm not putting it on hiatus. I've got some ideas percolating and once my brain untangles the knots in that story, I'll be working on that one too.**

* * *

**Auf Wiedersehen!**


	3. Chapter 2

Harry decided that he didn't like Stunners. At all. Ever.

Blearily opening his eyes, he looked around him, unable to comprehend what he was seeing. There looked like there were bars across his vision, because the room he was looking at had said bars segmenting his view. It looked kinda like Hedwig's cage...

Harry's eyes snapped open, adrenaline screaming through his body. Looking around with the fog of unconsciousness gone, Harry began to notice the things that he hadn't seen before. The bars he had seen really were part of a cage. Whoever the skinny man was had put him in a cage that was clearly too small, because his tail feathers were squished into the enclosure. Harry took one glance at those feathers and flinched. Most of them were broken, having been bent in order to fit them in the cage.

Ignoring the sad state of his feathers, Harry looking at his right wing. Still broken. Anger flooded Harry. The man hadn't even bothered to _try_ to fix his wing!

Snapping his beak in an angry gesture, Harry turned and looked out into the room. There wasn't much, and there was nothing that he could use to get himself out.

The room was completely empty, except for two rundown, almost broken chairs, and a fireplace. The window was boarded up, allowing only the tiniest slivers of light to enter the room. The only interesting thing about the room was the fireplace. Looking well-kept and clean, there was a large pot of Floo powder on a small side table shoved into the wall next to the large structure. What really got Harry's attention, however, was the height of the fireplace. Most adults would only have to crouch down a little to use the thing.

Trying to stand, Harry humphed when he found he couldn't move his legs. Looking down, he was horrified to discover that his legs were wrapped up in cloth and then tied to his torso.

'_How did I not even notice that? What's going on?'_ Harry thought, with no small amount of fear.

This was way worse than being stuck in the middle of nowhere, as a bird, with a broken wing.

* * *

Bertholt chewed the end of his wand, careful not to crack the wood. He'd found the black phoenix looking bird a few days ago. When the thing had woken up, it had begun making the mother of all rackets. He'd finally got it to shut up when he'd tied its beak shut. It made feeding the bird impossible, but it didn't look like there was anything he could do about that.

He glanced at the calendar. It was a week until the end of July. Then there was all of August before the Summer's End Auction. The black market auction was going to be held on September first this year. It would be difficult, due to all of the parents getting their kids to the Hogwarts Express, but it would be workable.

Bertholt let the giddiness of his catch wash over him. A rare bird like that would get him enough money to buy a new house! He honestly didn't know what kind of bird it was; he just knew it was going to fetch him a pretty penny.

Now if only time would move faster. Bertholt groaned in impatience. This was excruciating! The anticipation was going to literally kill him! Glaring at the door to his negotiating room, he decided that he would get paid a pretty penny for this bird, or he'd cook it for dinner.

* * *

Harry lay listlessly on the floor of the cage. He'd given up trying to escape the first hour he'd been awake. After that, he'd tried to irritate the man into getting rid of him. He hadn't expected him to tie his beak shut.

His beak had been tied shut for at least three days. He hadn't been given food or water for the same amount of time. However, he couldn't be completely sure just how much time had passed, as the window didn't let in enough light for Harry to truly tell time. While he was weak, he still had energy. He was just going to have to save it for the moment of his escape. When that moment came that is. If it came.

Looking around he tried to see if anything had changed. Nothing had. The fireplace was still abnormally tall. The chairs were still almost broken. The window was still boarded up. Letting out a whine, Harry's head fell back the bottom of the cage.

Nothing had changed, and he wasn't getting out.

* * *

Bertholt glared at his calendar. Time wasn't moving fast enough! It had only been four days!

Growling to himself, he stood up from his rundown table and stalked over to the door leading to his negotiations room. Whenever he did regular deals, they were done in that room. The bird was in there, to keep any of the feathers out of the main part of the house.

Flinging the door open as hard as he could, Bertholt scowled at the sight of the sleeping bird. Walking briskly over to the cage, he glared at the black bird.

"Wake up, you ruddy chicken!" he yelled, swinging a fist at the side of the cage. The sting in his hand was worth it to see the cage swinging wildly, with the bird making muffled shrieking sounds, flapping its left wing uselessly.

Laughing, Bertholt grabbed the swinging cage and shook it mercilessly. The bird's pathetic keening sounds were rather amusing.

"I think I just found a way to pass the time until the auction," he said quietly, grinning at the bird with an expression just short of evil.

* * *

Harry sat at the bottom of his cage, shivering violently. He'd gotten into the habit of just lying on the floor of the cage, not moving if he could help it. The man liked to come in and shake his cage, taking sadistic pleasure in hearing him try to scream or beg. Not that the human would understand Birdese if he heard it.

Whimpering, he tried to curl up in as small a ball as he could. His broken wing had finally stopped burning with pain, unless Harry moved it his wing only throbbed with a dull ache. If he did move it, it began feeling like knives were being shoved under his skin. Letting out a low whine, Harry tried to ignore the raging cramps in his stomach. All animals had to eat, no matter what they were. Harry had a feeling that whatever type of bird he was needed to eat less often than most. However that didn't mean he could live on nothing!

The sound of the door to the room slamming open had Harry's head shooting up to stare wide-eyed at the human who'd been torturing him for longer than he liked to think about.

"Hello, pretty! Guess what day it is? August second! That's right! We're into August, which means the auction is only a few more weeks away! After that, I'll never have to look at your ugly little feathers again!"

Harry shrank as far away from the deranged man as the cage would allow him.

"**Wht're ya tlkin' 'boud?"** Harry mumbled out from around his closed beak. The man just started laughing. Punching Harry's cage, he began whooping with laughter. Meanwhile Harry tried to scream in pain as he was jostled roughly. With his wing banging against the side of the enclosure, and his feathers being bent even more out of shape, Harry wished he were human so he could cry.

It was the oddest feeling in the world. Wanting to be able to cry was never something he'd felt before. For most of his life, Harry had been taught that he wasn't supposed to cry. Uncle Vernon and Dudley had made sure he knew that crying was for the weak. And that idea was just enforced at Hogwarts, where crying would have been mocked and ridiculed. He could honestly say that he had never _wanted_ to cry before. And yet, right now, that was one of the things he wanted most.

Trying to steady himself so his wing wouldn't be injured even more, Harry cursed the man for tying his legs to his torso. He couldn't stand, or even brace himself against the wild movements of the cage.

Watching the man, he tried to glare at him. However, the human didn't seem to notice, simply batting at the cage again, making it swing violently again.

Harry closed his eyes and let himself flop limply to the floor of the cage. If there was nothing he could do, then he would just have to wait the man out. As his cage swung crazily, Harry tried to curl up smaller. He just wanted everything to stop.

* * *

Bertholt grinned as he walked out of his negotiations room. He'd had a fun time shaking the bird around, and he was looking forward to the end of the month. Things were going so well, he might even pull out that old bottle of wine he'd been saving! He frowned. If the auction didn't go well though, then he'd have drunk the wine before he should have.

A smile brightened his face. He'd just have to wait for the auction then! Looking at his kitchen table, Bertholt grimaced at the sight of all the paperwork involved in signing up for the auction. Groaning in misery, he slumped at the table, pulling the papers closer.

He hated paperwork.

* * *

Harry didn't even bother opening his eyes when the door slammed open. He'd felt awful for a few days now, but nothing like this. His wing had decided to start hurting again, and his head was pounding, making him wonder if he was getting sick. When the man grabbed the cage and shook it, Harry just let out a tired squawk. Cackling, the human began to shake the enclosure up and down, exactly the same way that Dudley would sometimes shake soda bottles, making the fizzy drink foam and explode.

Unlike the drink, Harry just sat there, letting his body flop painfully across the cage.

"Hey! What's wrong with you, ya stupid pigeon? You better start making some noise, or I might have to find another way of keeping myself entertained! And you wouldn't like that!"

Harry groaned and tried to move, feeling his exhausted body protest the feeble attempt. Before he could even register what was happening, the cage door was clanged open. Feeling grubby hands reach in and yank him out, Harry began to panic.

He was too weak to try and escape, but this was his chance!

Flapping his left wing, he struggled pathetically, trying to force his body to respond properly.

"Stop moving you ugly pigeon! I said stop it! Knock it off! Aaargh! You bit me?! You bit me! I'll teach you to bite Bertholt Everard!"

The only thing Harry heard was an ominous snap, before his entire body was consumed in fiery agony.

* * *

Karanlιk looked into Kâhin's mirror. The seer had cast obscure spells on the glass, allowing the two djinni to watch the One That Changes. It had only taken seconds for the scene before them to chase Kâhin from the room. The Dark One could hear his seer retching in the hall. Looking at the sight in the mirror, he couldn't blame the younger djinn.

Siyahlι was shoved into a tiny cage, beautiful tail feathers bent and broken. His beak was tied shut, and his legs were tied to his torso, preventing the phoenix from moving. The worst part of the horrid image, however, was the little phoenix's wings. The right was broken, however the break would heal cleanly given the chance. The left wing looked like it had been broken recently, and in a very painful manner. It looked as if the person who harmed Siyahlι had broken the wing at the joint, and then shoved the poor bird's bones in an awkward direction, causing one of the bones to break through the skin.

The Dark One's eyes glittered with malice at the image of the broken phoenix. Spinning on his heel, he stalked from the room, passing Kâhin on the way out. Walking down the hallway with purpose, he passed several doors that opened into rooms filled with the treasures of the Dark. Ignoring those he continued past all of them, reaching the stairs at the end of the hall.

Almost jogging down the steps, Karanlιk emerged at the bottom of the stairwell in a large room that housed a giant crystal. The gleaming black gem glittered at him, almost like it was speaking. Ignoring it, the Dark One left the room through the large silver door across from the stairs.

He had a djinn to find.

* * *

Ìntikam muzdarip için was a patient djinn. It was something one learned when they had spent the majority of their adult life in a bottle. And it's not like it was even a fancy bottle. Ìntikam's bottle was very plain on the outside. A regular wine bottle wrapped in twine to prevent light from getting in. To his chagrin, the bottle had never been used, so there was no wine residue left for him to indulge himself with every now and then. So, yes, Ìntikam had a very plain bottle.

However, it wasn't boring. Because on the inside of the very boring bottle, he had several shelves of books. All of the books covered things like torture, poison, fighting, strategy, and warfare. On the few walls that weren't covered in shelves, weapons racks were crammed into the space.

Maces, halberds, morning stars, clubs, scimitars, staves, knives, daggers, bows of both the long and cross variety, blow guns, shields, whips, spears, and more littered the racks. The walls were the ultimate armory and war library. The open area of the main floor was covered in fine sand. Ìntikam used the main floor as a practice arena. Most of the hours in the day were spent reading about theory, strategy, and any numerous other things, or spent practicing with a weapon.

Ìntikam muzdarip için was the perfect warrior. He was unbeatable. And... his bottle was being _moved_!

Ìntikam swore vividly at whoever was moving his bottle.

"Damn you! Look! Look! You're knocking all of my books off of their shelves! Do you know how long it took me to get those things in the proper order?! You son of a goat! Look at this mess! How can I practice with a halberd when there are crossbows on the floor? AAAAAAAHHHH! There are maces and morning stars together! _Together_! What is wrong with you?! Do you have no _shame_?!"

Ìntikam sobbed at the sight of the mess his formerly pristine bottle was in.

"I'm going to complain to Karanlιk about this! You just watch! How's a djinn supposed to serve his sentence if he's getting disturbed? My poor books! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, _nonoNO_! Look at what you just did! You just knocked over an entire section! The entire war history of the Mongols is now on the floor with sharp pointy weapons! If any of my books get shredded, _you_ are going to get me new ones! Oh, Kιlιçlar ve Oklar! You just broke all of my arrows! You fiend! You call yourself a djinn? You're _NOT!_ You might as well be a human you're so clumsy!"

Dissolving his legs into mist, Ìntikam floated up towards the stoppered opening of his bottle.

"You hear me?! You son of a human! Son of a goat! Son of a, a, a cow! You wrecked my bottle you rotten little excuse for a djinn!" Glaring at the plug, he scowled, almost pouting.

Feeling a jolt, Ìntikam waited as whoever was carrying his bottle set the thing down. Looking back down at the sight of his trashed home, Ìntikam started muttering mutinously at the person who caused such a mess. He was going to make them clean this back up. The only exception was if there were of a higher rank than him. The only people with a higher rank than him were Kâhin, Eski, and Karanlιk himself. Kâhin, because the seer made sure that everything in the Palace ran smoothly. Eski, because the old codger was probably the only djinn more ancient than the Dark One. As for Karanlιk, he was the Dark One, and no one could make him do anything he didn't want to do.

A horrid squealing rang through the bottle, causing Ìntikam to clap his hands over his ears. Glaring up at the cork being removed from the bottle, he pouted again. He wasn't doing anything they wanted! They ruined his books!

Once the cork was gone, Ìntikam waited. There was only one person who could refrain from looking into the bottle, or talking. If he waited, he would find out who it was that bothered him, and then he could sufficiently plan how to torture them. If no one responded for several minutes, then Ìntikam knew he was dealing with the Dark One, in which case, he was going to need to just come out.

Within the first minute, Ìntikam was beginning to get a suspicion on who had caused him so much trouble.

It was during the second minute that he began to get paranoid.

The third minute saw him sharpening his favorite scimitar.

The fourth minute of waiting resulted in Ìntikam trying to get one of his shelves that had fallen over back upright.

He gave up the fifth minute.

The twenty-ninth minute had Ìntikam muttering to himself on how he was going to get out of whatever he was going to be asked to do.

One hour and seven minutes in, the djinn was seriously considering whether or not he'd be able to break his record.

Three hours and fifty-two minutes, and he was plotting the demise of whoever was bothering him.

Five hours and thirty minutes after the start of the waiting game, Ìntikam was starting to pull out his favorite weapons.

Eleven hours and ten minutes saw Ìntikam looking through all of his books on poison to see if there was anything on how to kill bottle trashing djinni.

Twelve hours and forty-four minutes marked Ìntikam's record.

Twelve hours and forty-five minutes and he had broken his previous record for waiting.

Turning his whole body into mist, Ìntikam floated slowly out of the bottle, drifting over to one of the unoccupied chairs in the room. Arranging the tendrils of fog into the approximate of a sitting position, Ìntikam solidified himself again, pouting at the only other inhabitant of the room.

"Ìntikam muzdarip için, I have a proposal for you. Will you hear me out?"

Ìntikam snorted.

"It's not like I have much of a choice, do I, _kardeşim_?" he asked sarcastically, with bitterness lacing his last word.

Karanlιk nodded his head in agreement with the sulking djinn.

* * *

The Dark One looked at the djinn sitting across from him. The male was tall, with darkly tanned skin, looking like the desert sun had decided he was the perfect recipient of its light. His hair was long, following the style of the djinn from before his imprisonment. The long, straight locks were pulled into a braid that hung over his right shoulder.

Ìntikam muzdarip için was a powerful djinn who _knew_ he was powerful. It showed in the fact that he only wore a pair of sand colored pants, tight at the waist and ankles. The lack of shirt showcased his lithe form, highlighting the various scars that littered his torso.

Karanlιk looked at the djinn that he had ordered imprisoned in a bottle for either ten thousand years or until the stubborn djinn died. Ìntikam, while pouting, radiated hate and betrayal. Deep down, the Dark One could admit to the fact that hearing the djinn say 'kardeşim' with such hatred in his voice hurt. A lot. However, he couldn't admit to such. Gathering his nerve, he began to outline his plan.

* * *

Harry shivered pathetically. Lying on the bottom of the metal cage was beginning to take a major toll on him. He was sick, his body was constantly trying to move without his permission, and he was cold.

After the man, who he now knew was named Bertholt Everard, had broken his left wing, he'd been shoved back into the cage. Being shaken around violently had made the fresh wound so much worse. Unable to do anything, Harry was forced to sit there and wait. What he was waiting for, he didn't know.

To be honest, he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

* * *

Bertholt swore crudely. The mark from when the stupid bird had jabbed him with its beak wasn't healing. Not very well, at least. He was seriously tempted to break its neck.

However, every time that thought crossed his mind, he looked at the calendar, where September first was marked.

Three more days. Three more days before he'd be gettin' the mother load. Sometimes, Bertholt wondered where all of the days had gone. Not much had happened, and he could barely believe how close the auction was. Other times, he imagined that the auction couldn't come soon enough.

Sighing, he looked at the clothes laid out on the bed. None of them were very good. And yet, he wanted to look his best! If only his stupid instincts would give him a hint on which clothes he was supposed to wear!

* * *

Harry swam in and out of consciousness. He was very, very sick. He knew that because he was pretty sure that the human had come into the room wearing a bright pink robe to look at the fireplace. That wasn't normal.

Whenever he was conscious, he would look around, and the whole room would swim violently, almost like when the man was shaking the cage. Trying to see straight usually just made things worse.

Making a whimpering sound in the back of his throat, Harry closed his eyes and just let himself fade back into unconsciousness, not even bothering to try and fight it.

* * *

Ìntikam looked at the large meeting hall where the so-called Summer's End Auction was going to take place. He had his instructions. He knew what to do. Didn't mean he had to like it.

Kâhin had given him some very strange looks before Karanlιk had ordered him to, "Stop staring like a human and start looking like the seer you claim to be."

That had gotten the djinn scouring the future rather quickly. Ìntikam snickered. If he didn't know better, he'd swear that the gifted djinn was in love with Karanlιk! With all of the looks the poor male sent the Dark One, and with his devotion to the older male...

"Kιlιçlar ve Oklar! Kâhin loves Karanlιk!" Ìntikam swore softly. Knowing he looked like an idiot, he stood there for several moments, trying to wrap his mind around the rather bizarre concept.

Admittedly, he'd been locked in that very boring bottle for a long time, but still! He couldn't have been gone that long!

Kâhin had barely been an acolyte to the old seer when Ìntikam had first met him. And Karanlιk was just as intimidating now as he was then. The djinn couldn't think of anything that the Dark One could have feasibly done that would have endeared him to the current seer.

Shaking his head roughly, Ìntikam pushed the thought of his kardeshim's strange life out of his mind. He knew what he was supposed to do, and he'd do it. Sighing, he thought back to Kâhin's instructions the day before.

ζΦζ

_Kâhin looked at Ìntikam with the most serious expression he'd ever seen on the normally laid back djinn._

"_Ìntikam, you must go to the Summer's End Auction in England. Siyahlι is going to be sold there. I know, it's heinous that the One That Changes would be sold like a camel, but it is the only way that the Balance will end up being restored. I've seen all other routes, and none end well."_

_He crossed his arms and scowled. This was why he hated talking to anyone that could see into the future with any regularity. They always knew what he was going to say before he did. It was irritating and creepy._

_Kâhin smiled at him, like he knew what Ìntikam was thinking._

"_Your job is actually to do nothing," he said with a rather bright smile. Both Karanlιk and Ìntikam looked at the male like he was insane._

"_Nothing? How am I supposed to do nothing? And how is that going to help?" he sputtered out indignantly._

_Kâhin sighed. "You do nothing, because the most likely future is that a tall blonde man will buy him. That's what we want. The blonde is going to help him, and he's going to play a large part in the restoration of the Balance. We need you to be there so that if any of the unlikely futures start to happen, you can step in."_

"_And how am I supposed to step in?" he asked sarcastically, "Kill everyone but the blonde and Siyahlι?"_

"_While that would work, it would also start the world down the path towards Muggles finding out about magic. So it would be preferable if you didn't," Kâhin said as he turned to grab something off of the table behind him. When he turned around, his eyes flickered briefly over to Karanlιk. Ìntikam almost didn't catch the glance, but centuries of practice came through and allowed him to catch it._

"_It would probably be best if you just stole Siyahlι from whoever bought him. As long as you don't take him from the blonde man. As I said, the blonde is the one we want to buy him."_

_Handing a freaky looking device to Ìntikam, Kâhin began pointing and explaining how the thing worked. Apparently, it would let him find the place the Auction was going to take place in. Watching the seer's hands, he barely caught the several glimpses that Kâhin flashed Karanlιk's way. Deciding to puzzle over Kâhin and the Dark One later, he put the looks out of his mind._

_Just as he was about to leave and begin his journey the site of the Auction, Kâhin called for him to wait._

"_You think that's all? Pah! After the blonde man buys Siyahlι, you need to stay with them. Siyahlι is a bit of a trouble dowser, and he'll need a bodyguard that has his best interests at heart, that isn't going to get caught by the blonde."_

_Nodding, slightly dazed by the fact that he was going to be following around a bird that was really a human, he almost didn't see Karanlιk's eyes gleam. However, since he did catch it, he focused on his kardeshim and raised one eyebrow._

_The Dark One scowled. Ìntikam grinned impishly. The djinn obviously still didn't like it when people could guess his next move._

"_What if there is more than one blonde?" Karanlιk asked, ignoring Ìntikam's fierce smile._

"_Oh, well, the blonde we want is tall, white blonde, dressed richly, and carries a cane with a snake head made out of silver. He also likes to sneer at people when he greets them. He's actually pretty hard to miss," Kâhin said dismissively._

_Rolling his eyes, Intikam left the tower room of the seer. He needed to go back to his bottle and grab a few things._

ζΦζ

Ìntikam sighed with boredom and looked around. There was nothing for him to do, now that he'd found the place. Now all he got to do was wait. A positively evil smirk began to spread across his features.

He could also start planning how he was going to use the happy little seer against the Dark One. Because if Karanlιk didn't like the seer back, he was going to by the time Ìntikam muzdarip için was through with them.

He loved causing mischief.

* * *

Bertholt looked at the calendar. Today was the day! The Summer End Auction was being held today! Walking out of his room, he crossed the kitchen and dining room, going into the negotiations room. Looking at the bird, he snorted. The thing was hoping for some sympathy. It was just lying there pathetically, with its wings flopped awkwardly around its body. The feathers were crimped and broken.

He'd never seen such a miserable excuse for a bird in his life.

Grabbing the cage, he lifted it off the hook hanging from the ceiling, and carried it over to the fireplace. Setting the bird down on the side table, he went back to his bedroom to grab the small bag with the few things he would need for the three days the Auction would run.

Once all of his things were gathered, he picked up a handful of Floo powder and threw it into the miniscule fire he'd managed to get going.

"Waterdale Hall!"

With a swirl of green fire and images of fireplaces whisking by, Bertholt arrived at the Auction, bird tucked under his arm.

* * *

**Sorry there isn't a whole lot of Harry in this one. I needed to explain a lot, and have a lot of time pass.**

**So what did you think? Too weird? Too many OCs? Well, I'm afraid that the OCs are going to have to stay. They're very important to the story.**

**But guess what? We meet Lucius in the next chapter!**

**Oh, yeah, I wanted to remind you guys about that. Please vote on the poll. I've had a few ideas, about Draco's guys, but if you give me feedback, that'd be awesome. And try to vote on the poll, and not tell me in a review, 'cause that way your opinion is added into the count, and I have a proper idea of what people want.**

* * *

**Auf Wiedersehen!**


	4. Chapter 3

Lucius sat in his study, examining the skull and snake tattooed onto the inside of his left arm. The Mark was disgusting. It was a sign of slavery, like a brand.

Closing his eyes, Lucius pushed back the almost overwhelming urge to vomit. He knew that the Mark would forever define him. It would make some turn away from him in horror, believing him to be a sadistic madman. Others would flock to him for possessing the tattoo, through fear or admiration for what he's done.

Hearing voices outside of his study, he opened his eyes and looked at the door.

"Mother, do you think we can convince Father to come with us to the Station?"

"I'm afraid not, Little Dragon. He has many things he has to do, today. I know he wishes he could, though."

A sigh, and then, "Alright. I won't ask and bother him then. And I'm not a 'Little Dragon', Mother."

"No? Then why am I still taller than you?"

"Mother!"

Lucius smiled wanly at the antics of his family. Catching sight of the Mark again, his smile disappeared. Draco would be expected to accept the Mark one day.

Standing from his desk, he walked over to the large window next to the large mahogany desk. Looking out over the grounds of Malfoy Manor, he thought about his son.

Draco was spoiled, of that there was no doubt. Being an only child and from a rich family, it wasn't really a surprise. However, he wasn't a horrid person. He truly cared for his parents and his friends. He had the bad habit of trying to spoil his friends, Blaise Zabini, Theodore Nott, and Pansy Parkinson. They often indulged his giving them lavish gifts, if only because it made him smile.

And that was the crux of Lucius' problem. Draco was a good person. He didn't always show it, but he was. And he wasn't the sort of person who could kill, or maim, or torture. He was prone to temper tantrums, as evidenced by his behavior at Hogwarts, but he wasn't really malicious. Although he had a feeling that the Gryffindors would argue with him on that one.

His son would be expected to become a Death Eater, and he would be completely miserable, even more so than Lucius was. He may look like his father, but he was definitely his mother's son.

Giving in to his desires, he leaned his head on the glass. Closing his eyes, he tried to fight the tear that was threatening to roll down his cheek. Pulling away and wiping the bothersome thing away before it could escape, he walked back over to his desk. Looking at the piles of paperwork, he scowled.

He could do that later. He needed to fulfill the errand the Dark Lord had sent him on first.

Stalking to the fireplace, he grabbed his cane and cloak. Draping the cloth over his shoulders and making sure to check that the shrunken bag was in the hidden pocket, he gripped his cane in his left hand, so he could draw his wand quickly if necessary. Grabbing a pinch of Floo powder in his hand, he threw it into the fire, watching it flare green. Gazing into the flames for a moment, he let the green fade and die back to the plain orange and red.

Lucius grabbed a second handful and threw it in as he stepped into the flames, calling out, "Waterdale Hall!" briskly.

When the whirl of flames stopped, he stepped gracefully into the large warehouse like building. Looking around, he walked over to a man handing out numbered cards. No one used the cards, but it made the plebeian masses feel special.

Finding a place to sit on the risers spread around, Lucius drifted through the crowds, trying not to touch anyone. The inane auctioneer was already babbling, probably trying to warm up. He could hear a cacophony coming from behind the large curtains blocking off half of the hall. Sighing, he resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. He would never understand the desire so many people had to own creatures that would get them arrested.

Sitting down, he began to scan the crowd for anyone that would be likely to report him, or someone that he could blackmail. Already there were at least three Aurors that he could threaten.

Discreetly rolling his eyes, he almost missed the fog. Doing a double take, he looked closely at the ceiling. Drifting between the rafters, a small bit of mist rolled across the ceiling. Narrowing his eyes, Lucius began to cast several obscure spells that would make it harder to know who he was. If that mist was a new surveillance method developed by the Unspeakables, he didn't want to be caught by it.

* * *

Ìntikam was very bored. He'd been drifting among the rafter for hours, and so far, the only thing that had happened was a lot of contraband had been brought into the hall. He could see a lot of seedy people walking around. Both in front of the curtain, and behind it. Siyahlι had arrived in the early hours of the day, before anyone else had really arrived. And the blonde hadn't...

There he was.

Ìntikam almost snorted at Kâhin's spot on description. The man was an aristocrat, through and through. The cane was a nice one, though.

The long blonde hair was obviously distinctive, because many of the less distinguished members of the crowd flocked to him the moment they saw it. He sneered at them without even looking at who was talking to him. Normally, that type of behavior made Ìntikam angry, however in this case, it was probably for the best. He didn't think the human would be able to walk two feet if the masses thought he would listen to them.

When the man sat himself down, he immediately began to scan for possible problems. Grudgingly, Ìntikam's respect for the man grew. Only a little bit, though. It stopped being grudgingly when the man noticed him, though.

The moment the human saw the mist that made up his body, his entire body went completely still. He focused on Ìntikam with frightening intensity. Looking at the human, he decided that he could begin to like this one.

He almost laughed when the blonde began to layer spells of anonymity over himself. They were good, for a human, but not enough to deter the attentions of a djinn.

When the human seemed satisfied with his safety, he focused on the crowds again. Although he kept an eye on Ìntikam.

Deciding to follow the blonde's example, he began to scan the crowd for anyone that might pose an issue for his mission. Seeing no one obvious, he began to watch the 'merchandise' to make sure no one decided to steal the One That Changes. Growling at the filthy human standing next to Siyahlı's cage, he began to plan ways of making the man miserable. The man was a thin, shady looking person that clearly didn't know the meaning of the word 'bathe'.

Beginning to plot the _unfortunate_ demise of the filth that would hurt a phoenix, Ìntikam grinned.

* * *

If Lucius didn't know any better, he'd say that the mist was happy, possibly giddy. It was swirling and curling around itself with such eagerness, that he was slightly alarmed. If the Unspeakables really did create it, then he was going to have to reconsider his regard of them, because they were certainly not in their right minds.

Focusing back on the stage, he watched as the auctioneer began babbling in earnest now. Watching carefully, he let the words flow over him, focusing on the objects being displayed. Magic pendants that would allow someone to walk through walls. Sighing, he watched as several people began bidding. Apparently, he was one of the only people in England who had studied magical theory.

If someone had worn the necklace and become intangible enough to float through a wall, then the necklace would fall off, making them tangible again. They would end up standing there for days trying to keep the pendant from falling off, and the Aurors would just arrest them like always.

After the fake intangibility pendants, there was a tiger. Then a sword that could supposedly heal people instead of hurting them. After that, there was a series of statues that could be used to summon spirits. Lucius bought those, just because they interested him. Besides, who knows, he might need to summon something one day.

He was beginning to get very bored, when he saw it. The device the Dark Lord was looking for. A large stone post looking thing with a blood red gem embedded in the top. It was covered in sigils that looked like they were carved by an expert. It was slender, looking almost like a staff. At least, it would if it weren't for the almost demonic looking blade curving around the end of the stone with the gem in it.

For several seconds, no one made any noise, just looking at the evil thing. And Lucius knew it was evil. He'd spent far too many evenings in the presence of the Dark Lord to still be unable to detect the presence of something truly evil.

"Thirty thousand Galleons!"

"Fifty thousand!" Lucius shouted, trying to find out where the other person who was bidding was located.

"Seventy thousand!"

"A hundred thousand!" he called out, still looking for his competition.

"A hundred fifty!" the woman called. He looked at her with harsh eyes. He could not fail his Lord, or he would be severely punished. Just as the auctioneer was about to declare the woman the new owner of the _thing_, Lucius called out, his voice silencing the whispering hall.

"Three hundred and fifty Galleons!"

The auctioneer looked stunned. Lucius however, only had eyes for the woman who spun around, searching the crowd for the person who had bought her out. Locking eyes with Lucius, her lips curled up in a snarl, looking positively feral. He gazed back at her calmly. She clearly couldn't outbid him.

"Sold to the blonde gentleman in the back!" The auctioneer called out, looking slightly dazed.

The attendants took the stone object into the back, where it was put with the statues Lucius had already bought. It would be waiting for him at the end of the Auction when he left.

Sitting down, unsure of when he had stood, he allowed himself to heave a sigh of relief. He would not fail his master. Neither he nor his family would be punished.

Putting his attention back on the stage, he watched as more Dark objects, contraband items, and rare animals were bought. Glancing out the window, he watched as the sun began to set. Torches were lit, and the Auction continued. He wondered if Draco had arrived at Hogwarts yet, and if he'd caused any trouble. He hoped not. Looking back at the stage, Lucius began to wonder if there was going to be anything interesting left.

Just as he was about to declare this Auction finished for him, and head back to the Floo entrance, the mist caught his attention again. Looking at it sharply, he was shocked to see it swirling and coalescing violently. Darkening until it began to look more like a storm cloud than mist; the cloud seemed to focus its entire being on the stage.

Looking at the auctioneer, he saw that the man was holding up a cage with something in it. Lucius couldn't tell what the animal was, but he knew that the cage was too small. It was when the creature lifted its head wearily to look at them and let out a muffled cry that he realized what it was.

Feeling as though someone had punched him in the gut, Lucius looked in horror at the sight of the bedraggled and broken phoenix.

"Five thousand!" someone called. Lucius tried to make his mouth work.

"Ten thousand!" Lucius felt sick to his stomach at the thought of these people owning the poor bird.

"Twenty thousand!" He wanted to shake them and tell them that the creature they were looking at wasn't just some bird.

"Fifty thousand!" He couldn't let someone buy such a precious creature for such a paltry price!

"Five hundred thousand!" Lucius called out, again shocking the hall into silence. It seemed like the whole hall was looking at him in surprise. Ignoring them, he looked at the auctioneer with a deadly glare. If the man didn't say 'sold' in the next three seconds, he was going to go home without a tongue.

"Sold to the blonde gentleman in the back!" the man called out for the third time that night.

Standing, Lucius began to walk down the risers, intending to get the statues, the object for his Lord, and the phoenix. Walking past everyone, he risked a glance up at the mist, only to see it gone. Frowning, he began to walk a little faster. The mist had seemed a little too interested in the phoenix for comfort.

Finally reaching the ground, he stalked to the curtain and threw it back, almost hitting one of the attendants in the face. Weaving his way through the maze of items to be sold, or items that had been bought, Lucius looked around for anything that might direct him to where his purchases were. He cringed internally at the thought of the phoenix being merely a 'purchase'.

Seeing one of the many attendants wandering around the maze, he grabbed his arm and demanded, "Take me to my things."

Nodding nervously, the boy began to lead him through the tables filled with contraband. When they reached the section filled with items that had already been bought, the boy paused and looked at him cautiously. He clearly didn't know who Lucius was, and didn't know what he had bought.

"The summoning statues, the stone post with the blade and gem, and the bird," he drawled lazily, knowing that his words would jog the lad's memory.

Seeing the light in the boy's eyes as he realized where to go, he smirked. As he followed the boy to his things, he wondered who had put the phoenix in such a small cage. He also wondered how in Merlin's name it hadn't escaped.

When he saw the phoenix, he almost missed the grubby man with a horrible grin standing next to the cage. He could have, if it weren't for the stench. Ignoring him, he walked over to the cage and looked in at the bird. He felt his blood begin to boil at the condition of the poor thing. Both wings were broken, and the tail feathers were bent beyond repair. The phoenix's beak was tied shut, and its legs were bound to its body in the most awkward way possible. It was far too thin, and it looked like it hadn't even had anything to drink in ages.

Smoothing out his features so no emotion showed, he looked at the man who was looking entirely too pleased with himself.

"Are you the one who sold the phoenix?" he asked quietly, not letting his emotions show.

"Yep! Bertholt Everard, at your service, Mister Malfoy!"

Lucius felt a positively vicious sneer begin to form on his face. He was going to enjoy bringing this man down to size.

* * *

Ìntikam had never expected the blonde to hit the man who hurt the One That Changes over the head with his snake cane, but it was nice to see. Thanks to the hustle and bustle of the Auction, no one heard the sound of the worthless human shouting. Ìntikam rather liked it when the blonde said, "You are a piece of scum not worth the dust on my boots, much less deserving of the honor of living in the first place."

This human was really beginning to grow on him!

Especially when he informed the filth of the fact that he was going to inform the authorities of his abuse of the animal, and that the Aurors would be calling within the hour. It was a nice touch when he knocked the human out, so that the Aurors would be able to arrest him without the man getting away.

* * *

Denise Middlefeld and her partner, Reginald Ausberger, were rather shocked to see Lucius Malfoy walk up to them and inform them that if they arrested someone here at the Auction, he wouldn't tell their superior officer that they been to the Auction without the intention of arresting anyone. Jumping at the opportunity, Denise and Reginald followed the pureblood into the maze of objects. When they reached their destination, they saw a foul smelling man lying on the ground with an impressive goose egg on his forehead. Looking at Malfoy with new respect, she politely asked what she was arresting him for. He replied with a smirk.

"He was in possession of a rare contraband animal. He abused said animal, breaking its wings, leaving it in a cage far too small, and refusing to feed it. If you need to see the animal as proof, you may."

Denise decided then and there, that she never wanted to be on Lucius Malfoy's bad side. It looked like the people that were didn't last very long. As Reginald began to cast Binding Charms and stasis spells, she took a glance at the animal the man had abused. And winced.

The poor thing was a mess. She wasn't sure how it was still alive.

"Do you know his name, sir?" Denise asked professionally. Malfoy nodded, saying with more venom than she thought possible, "Bertholt Everard."

Writing the name down on a piece of paper she found in the pocket of her robe, she was about to leave when she heard Malfoy call out.

"Oh, and Aurors? I _trust_ you'll be able to find some... items in his home, yes?"

Without turning around, Denise looked at her partner with no small amount of fear. The threat in the man's voice was clear. They find contraband in the riffraff's home. Doesn't matter if it was there when they first go in. They just need to make sure it's there.

Or else.

* * *

Ìntikam was almost giggling he was so happy. The rotten mortal was going to be placed in the human's dungeon, and he'd never get out! At least, if things still worked the same as they did when he went into his very boring bottle. His elation deflated, he scowled at the filth being dragged away by the two guards, wondering if the man would be able to wiggle his way out of a decent punishment.

Quickly, he wove a discreet tracking signal into the man's skin. Grinning wickedly, Ìntikam watched with glee as the man was dragged off. No, even if the man escaped mortal punishment, he would be able to find the human. The waste of breath wouldn't be able to escape the punishment of the djinn. Wishing he could cackle without being heard, Ìntikam walked over to the cage that held Siyahlι and stuck one finger through the bars. Gently he slid his finger down the feathers of Siyahli's side. Despite being dirty and unkempt, the feathers were still as soft as the smoothest silk.

Stepping away, he watched the blonde pull his wand out of the snake cane. Raising one eyebrow, Ìntikam acknowledged the cleverness of the disguise. Glad that he'd coalesced back into a solid form and then become invisible, he watched as the man pulled out a tiny bag from under his cloak and enlarged it. With appreciation for the intelligence of the mortal, the 'ifrit watched as the statues holding the essence of minor spirits were shrunk and placed carefully into the bag. When the man went to shrink the stone with the blade and gem, Ìntikam was impressed when the human used the staff's own magic against it, without knowing of course, to shrink it.

Once he shrunk the bag to its previous size, the blonde tucked it back into where ever it had been pulled from. The man then turned his attention to the One That Changes. Picking up the cage almost delicately, he began to walk back through the maze of things towards the fireplaces used for travel where some humans were demanding payment for the things bought.

Ìntikam walked beside the blonde as he gently carried Siyahlι and the bag he'd put the summoning statues and the Kan Bιçaklι Taş into. He had been rather surprised when the human, whose name was apparently Malfoy, bought the Taş. It was an evil thing that most 'ifrit didn't touch. He wasn't sure what he thought of Siyahlι being that close to something so foul.

Shrugging, he decided that if it became an issue, he'd deal with it. Otherwise, there was nothing he could do.

Ìntikam looked over at the blonde and watched as the human whirled away in a flash of green fire. The djinn stood frozen for a moment as he realized that he didn't know how the humans travelled using the fire, and that he didn't know where Malfoy had gone.

He just lost Siyahlι.

"Ateş ve kükürt, siyah kum rüzgarlarι!"

* * *

Harry could feel everything swimming around him. Colors didn't stay the same for more than a few seconds, and sounds were just plain _weird_. Nothing made sense, and he was just tired. Harry honestly wanted to sleep. Maybe things would be better if he slept. Maybe when he woke up, he wouldn't be stuck in this stupid cage, and he could start feeling better. That would be really nice.

* * *

Lucius scowled at the fireplace, feeling like he'd been ripped off. Scoffing, he turned and walked over to his desk. Of course he was cheated! It was a Dark objects auction. Nothing was priced properly, and bidding would always be outrageous.

Looking at the phoenix sitting in the cage, he sighed. The poor thing was half dead. Throwing his cloak over the back of the chair, he set the cage on the desk, pointedly ignoring the fact that his paperwork was getting crushed.

Opening the obscenely small cage, he gently pulled the black bird out. Laying it softly on his desk, he picked up the cage and threw it harshly into the fireplace. Either the house elves would take it away or it would be slowly melted in the fire. He hoped it was the second. Turning back to the phoenix, he sighed.

It was going to take a lot of work to get the bird back in proper condition.

Pulling out the small knife he kept hidden on the side of his desk, he first cut the cloth tying the poor things legs. Once that was cut, and its legs free, Lucius tossed the dirty material into the fire as well.

The material around the beak was tricky. It was so tight; he didn't think he would be able to just pull it off. However, it was risky to cut it off, because he didn't want to scratch the beak, and he didn't want the bird to wake up. Deciding to take his chances, he oh so carefully began to slice apart the cloth tying the beak closed. As he worked, he made sure he looked at the bird often, making sure it wasn't close to waking up.

The moment the beak was fully released, Lucius tossed away the cloth and set down the knife. He would still need it to cut the tail feathers so that they weren't looking ruined, but first he needed to set the wings.

Secure in the knowledge that no one could see him, he bit his lip in thought. He didn't know how to set a bird's wings. In fact, there was a good chance that he could make it worse. Looking at the small clock sitting next to the picture of Narcissa and Draco, he saw that Draco's hand was set to 'School', while Narcissa's was set to 'Home'.

Seeing Narcissa's name sparked inspiration within him. His wife was highly intelligent, and she may know a solution to this.

"Ritzy!"

With a pop, the tiny house elf appeared in his study. Bowing low, she began to make her thousands of apologies, like all house elves.

"Ritzy, I need you to tell Narcissa that she is needed in my study. That is all," he dismissed. The house elf popped away. Sighing, Lucius looked back at the phoenix.

He held no illusions that he could own the bird. A phoenix chose the wizard they would stay with, no exceptions. All Lucius was doing was helping it to regain its health. It would then leave and continue living its immortal life. He refused to allow himself the luxury of pretending the bird might choose to stay with the Malfoy family. It would only make the reality hurt that much more when it left.

Deciding that he might as well start working on the feathers while he waited for Narcissa to arrive, Lucius picked up the knife again. Slowly making his way through all of the tail feathers, he began to methodically cut the ones too damaged to repair, and straightening out the ones that were salvageable. He quickly began to realize two things. That phoenix tail feathers were very long, and some of them were broken in more than one place. And that phoenixes had far too many feathers.

"Lucius? _What_ are you _doing_?"

Looking over his shoulder, Lucius looked at Narcissa. His wife was looking at him like he was a maniac. He supposed that he did look rather strange. He had what looked like a pile of feathers on his desk, and he was cutting some of them. Yes, that would look rather strange.

"I bought a phoenix at the Auction today. It's in bad condition," was all he said. He didn't really want to get into all of the specifics.

Narcissa's face cleared of confusion, and she nodded, coming closer to look at the bird. It was times like these that he wished he could tell what his wife was thinking.

* * *

Narcissa had been expecting many things when she approached her husband's study. She hadn't been prepared to see him hovering over a ball of feathers with a knife. She wasn't even sure if he was aware of the fact that he had one or two sticking out of his hair. Probably not.

When he told her he'd bought a phoenix, she wasn't sure if she wanted to groan at the thought of _another _animal, or smile at how sweet it was that he couldn't seem to stop himself from saving the things. The menagerie situated at the back of the grounds was full of animals that Lucius or Draco had decided needed saving. It was usually Lucius, though. Draco was picky about his animals.

Looking at the poor bird, however, Narcissa knew that even she wouldn't have been able to prevent herself from saving the thing.

At a glance, she knew that Lucius had been working on the bird for a while. The tail feathers were looking decent, with only half of them still broken or bent. What worried her, however, was the sight of the wings. They were truly mangled. Especially the left.

Nodding to herself, the matriarch of the Malfoy family pushed up her sleeves and began gently moving the wings, trying to see how to set them without causing more damage.

* * *

Ìntikam was more than a little worried. He was supposed to be there to protect Siyahlι. He couldn't do that, if he was here!

Scowling at the device Kâhin had giving him, he began trying to reset the finding mechanism to locate the One That Changes.

"Damn it, Kâhin! Couldn't you make something the rest of us can use?!"

* * *

Harry was very tired. But he was comfortable. Very, very comfortable. He wondered if everything had been a dream. Being turned into a bird, getting his wings broken, being stuck in that tiny cage.

Opening his eyes, he looked around him. Harry quickly became confused. He wasn't at the Dursley's. And the dorm at Hogwarts didn't look like this either.

He was in a huge room with several chairs and sofas. There was a fireplace set into one of the walls, and the fire in it was crackling quite happily. All of the furniture was a pretty silver color, with deep brown wood. Harry was lying on a pedestal like stand, where a large cushion had been laid. The cushion was black, almost the same color as his feathers.

The walls were Ravenclaw blue, and had one or two portraits hung up. The weird thing, was that the pictures weren't of people, but of animals. There was huge portrait that took up almost all of one wall that was of a giant eagle looking bird that was hovering over a nest perched precariously on the side of a cliff, and another, smaller, painting was of a strange horse-like creature hanging over the fireplace. It reminded him of Buckbeak, a little. The front half was a horse, but the back was like a really long fish tail. The horse-fish was swimming around a coral reef, looking positively gleeful.

Looking around the spacious room, Harry couldn't help but wonder where on earth he was.

"**Hello?"** he called out cautiously, before mentally smacking himself in the forehead. He was a bird! No one could understand-

"**Who are?! Answer this anka kuşu! Answer this Uçan Kaya!"**

The screeching voice rang out through the room, causing Harry to swing his head around, trying to find the speaker. Seeing no one, with his head spinning dizzily, he began to scan the room carefully. Only ghosts could speak out of nowhere, and it wasn't a ghost that spoke. He almost looked past the portrait of the bird, when it opened its beak and screamed again.

"**Answer this one! Who are?! Little black bird not take eggs!"**

Harry didn't care how stupid he looked with his beak hanging open. He just cared about the fact that he understood the loud bird.

"**Um... I'm Harry. And I don't want your eggs?"** he said hesitantly. He didn't want the only person... bird... that understood him to hate him. He liked it when _someone_ could tell what he was saying.

"**No take eggs?"** The strange bird asked, looking at him like the idea of people not taking its eggs was brand new.

"**Um, no take eggs,"** he said, this time far more confidently.

"**Good! Now, who are?"** Harry stared at the bird, trying to find out how he was supposed to answer.

"**Er, Harry,"** he repeated, hoping that he wouldn't somehow say something wrong and set the bird off.

"**Har-ee? Bad name. Bad, bad name. Little black bird should have good name! Little black bird not take eggs, make good. So need good name."**

Harry stared at the neurotic bird. It was insane. There was no other description for the thing.

"**Er, what are you, exactly?"** Harry asked, slightly worried that he would upset the bird.

"**What is Uçan Kaya? Uçan Kaya is anka kuşu."** The bird tilted its head to the side as it said this, making itself look cute, in a terrifying I-can-rip-off-your-limbs-in-less-than-two-seconds kind of way.

Harry resisted the urge to bang his head against the nearest surface. Talking to this bird was impossible!

"**No-Name! No-Name! Wait for she-mate! She-mate speak better, and she-mate give No-Name name!"** It took Harry several seconds to interpret crazy into English. Which is when he got the shock of his life.

"**Wait! You're male? But aren't the men supposed to fight and get food?"**

"**Why males get meat? Females bigger. Males have magic to protect young, she-mates don't. Male screech at egg thieves, female get meat,"** the giant eagle said, with such calm, as if this were completely normal. Harry just looked at him. He wasn't sure how to respond.

"**But, what abo-yaaaahh!"** his sentence was interrupted by a yawn. It was all he could do not to fall right back asleep. Laying his head down on the cushion he was on, Harry tried to stay awake, but he could feel exhaustion creeping back up on him. He was actually kind of surprised that he stayed awake as long as he did.

"**Kee-kee! Sleep little black bird with no good name. I protect more than eggs. I guard sleep. Wait for she-mate."**

Harry didn't even have the energy to thank the bizarre bird.

* * *

Ìntikam was going to cry. Doesn't matter that he didn't know how to cry, he was still going to.

He lost Siyahlι, and now he was going to be put into an even more boring bottle than his very boring bottle! And he wouldn't even be able to set up Karanlık and Kâhin!

* * *

Karanlık stood next to Kâhin and watched as Siyahli's bodyguard wandered across the countryside. The mirror was very useful in knowing what sort of trouble the 'ifrit was getting up to.

"Was he supposed to lose the One That Changes?" Karanlık asked, trying to decide if he should be amused, or angry.

"Oh, absolutely! There are some things that need to happen that Ìntikam wouldn't respond well to. So his losing Siyahlι is a good thing. Besides, this little scare will encourage him to keep a good eye on the little devil. And Siyahlι _will_ end up being a little devil. Metaphorically, of course."

The Dark One looked at his seer and held back a sigh. The djinn was far too cheerful. Unfortunately, he was also the most powerful clairvoyant to be born in millennia. He simply couldn't be replaced.

Looking back at the image of his kardeşim blundering around, he waved his clawed hands at the mirror. As always, Kâhin somehow knew what he wanted. Muttering what sounded like nonsense, Kâhin adjusted the mirrors sight, causing the image to blur as it crossed thousands of miles, slowing as it approached a large mansion. Zooming closer still, the image flew through one of the closed windows and stopped on the view of Siyahlι.

Karanlık was impressed. The broken feathers were trimmed neatly. While it made the tail comically short for a phoenix, it was still better than the many broken feathers. The wings had been set, and were now in the proper place for wings. The beak and legs were untied, and the One That Changes was now resting in a blue and silver room that held a magnificent picture of two nesting rocs.

The female roc stopped her preening of her mate, and looked directly at where Karanlık and Kâhin would be standing if they were actually in the room. The sight of her light blue eyes was all Karanlık needed to know that the she-roc could see them.

"Pull away."

"Wha-"

"Pull away, Kâhin," he repeated, putting some of his authority behind his words. He was satisfied that the djinn immediately yanked the image in the mirror away from the sight of Siyahlι, and focused it on a large castle swarming with children.

Karanlık stared at the image in the mirror, knowing that the roc was probably looking at them as they stood there. Humans had forgotten the magic of many of the creatures they dismissed. Rocs in particular were powerful. Also dangerous. No one truly knew the limits of a magical roc's power. Karanlık knew that while the males had a more traditional version of magic, the females with blue eyes held a type of magic that was capable of challenging even the most powerful of djinn. If a blue-eyed roc was watching over Siyahlι, then the One That Changes was far more protected than he would have thought.

"Sire? Why?" Kâhin's soft question made the Dark One look at the younger djinn. With a serious expression, he shook his head, which was all the answer the seer needed. Bowing respectfully, Kâhin then smiled and pulled the image of the mirror back to Ìntikam, who was currently cursing blondes and fire.

* * *

Nehir Saatler flew across the landscape of the portrait. While she didn't like being confined to such a small hunting ground, she knew it was necessary. Uçan Kaya was her mate, and her eggs were still unhatched. She was needed to guard them. If humans discovered the secret of their portrait, then she would need to fight beak and claw to protect her tiny flock.

While flying back to the cliff where her nest and mate were, she allowed her Sight to spread across her vision. For several years, now, all she had been able to see within the waters of the River were black feathers. Nehir Saatler didn't like the way her vision had been compromised.

Sliding the film of the River away from her eyes, she blinked rapidly, trying to hide her unease.

Approaching the nest, she watched as Uçan Kaya looked at her with adoration in his eyes. She felt warmth flood her chest at the sight of her mate watching over her eggs.

"Rüzgara kanatlarι altιnda, sevgili," she cried, sweeping her wings gracefully as she prepared to land. Gripping the stone of the cliff with her talons, she settled quickly next to her mate.

"Rüzgara kanatlarι altιnda, benim kraliçem," Uçan Kaya screeched in return. She clucked in amusement. Dragging her beak through his feathers, she listened as he spoke about the newcomer to the blue room.

"The bird is strange, kraliçem. He speaks the language of the humans beyond the portrait view. And he has a human name! I told him to wait for your return, so that you could give him a proper name. It was some foolishness. 'Har-ee' I think it was."

"Oh, really?" she asked, her amusement of the situation well hidden.

"Yes. He was also very tired. He could barely speak for a few sparrow spins!"

"Truly?" Nehir Saatler asked, this time with concern coloring her words. Birds were chatty creatures, magical or not. For any bird to be unable to speak for more than a few sparrow spins was unheard of, unless they were unwell.

Looking towards the view of the blue room, she gazed out and locked her gaze on the sight of a tiny black bird. Allowing a little of the River to flow through her, Nehir Saatler was suddenly flooded with the image of black feathers, fire, shadows, and blood. Feeling her feathers begin to rise up in irritation, she tried to smooth them down, only for the waters of the River to sweep over her again, this time showing her the Balance. The white side of the scales was almost touching the ground, while the black side was stretched far too high. As she watched, the same black bird, which she could now see was a phoenix, flew over to the scales, and landed on the white side, where it was attacked and worshipped in turns.

A swirl of black sand crept over to the phoenix from the Dark side of the scales, and kissed the top of its head. The moment the sand left the phoenix, the other beings on the Light side of the Balance began to attack the bird, breaking its wing and tossing it away. Fluttering weakly, the bird began to cry out in pain and fear. The Light ignored the phoenix, while the Dark watched, waiting for something.

Appearing from nowhere, like the phoenix, a human male walked to the phoenix and gently picked it up, carrying it over to the black half of the scales. While the man nursed the bird back to health, the rest of the Dark watched and waited. Without moving closer to the man and phoenix, they began to mobilize, gathering weapons and magic. To Nehir Saatler's shock, the Dark began to split down the middle, creating two sets of black scales connected to the single white set. On one side was a snake-faced human with broken magic and many soldiers dressed in black with white masks. The snake human called to the man with the phoenix, demanding that he join the ranks of the soldiers.

On the other set of black scales, swirling masses of black sand, Dark creatures of all shapes and sizes, and even some of the Lost Gods called to the phoenix, begging the bird to join them and tip the Balance to its proper alignment.

The man and phoenix clung to each other, wanting, and not wanting, to go to both of the Dark scales.

To her horror, she saw the snake-man seize a blond human who looked like the man with the phoenix, and threaten to harm the child if the man didn't join him. Just as the man was about to release the phoenix and go to save his chicklet, one of the Light dwellers appeared, and-

With a screech that could have woken the dead, Nehir Saatler felt the River leave her with as much force as it entered. Uçan Kaya watched with shock as his mate shuddered and shook.

"Benim kraliçem? What did you See?" he asked gently, trying not to be too loud and bother her.

"Too much, sevgili. Far, far too much. The little phoenix is the crux, the axle, and the weight. He will decide everything and nothing. I can't See clearly enough to know what to do just yet," Nehir Saatler paused, thinking of everything that she had seen. One thing was very clear. No human name would suffice for such an important being.

"But no name he possesses now is worthy of his fate. I will give him a proper name, one that will ring over the River like bells of song and drums of war," the she-roc declared, her words holding the timbre of prophecy. Her mate simply nodded. Needing to calm down, she began to drag her beak through his feathers again, hoping that the preening would help to calm her racing heart.

Just as she was beginning to relax, she felt the River tease as her senses. Looking up, she saw with her Sight two djinni looking into the room with the phoenix. Locking eyes with the one that oozed Dark, she watched as the knowledge of what she was flooded the djinn. Within moments of opening, the viewing portal closed, and the djinni disappeared.

She shook her head and went back to preening Uçan Kaya, while her eyes filmed over. Watching the Dark oozing djinn and the one that had some of the River flowing in his veins, she clucked in amusement. Djinni always were fun to bother, be they 'ifrit or marid.

* * *

Harry slowly opened his eyes. He felt rested in a way that he rarely ever had. Like everything was going to be okay. Looking around, he was pleased to see that nothing in the blue and silver room had changed.

Eyes glossing over the picture of the giant eagle, he did a double take. The bird hadn't been that big before.

"**Er... Why are you bigger?"** Harry asked cautiously. The bird looked at him. He found himself caught in the sky blue eyes of the eagle. Gulping, he tried to make himself smaller. This wasn't the bird he spoke to earlier.

"**Kee-kee. I am not a danger to you, little bird. You met my mate, Uçan Kaya, when you last awoke. I am Nehir Saatler, anka kuşu of the far southern mountains."**

Harry looked at the female eagle-like bird. The male, whose name was apparently Uçan Kaya, hadn't been lying when he said that the females of his species were bigger.

"**Um,"** Harry started, then paused. He wasn't sure if this question would offend the bird or not. Oh, well. He could always apologize later. "**You and your mate keep saying you're... an-kuh kushoo. But I don't know what that means. So, um, what are you?"**

To his shock, the bird began to make that sharp little 'kee' sound, which Harry was startled to realize was laughter. He watched the female laugh for several minutes, before she began to wind down.

"**Anka kuşu is what we call ourselves. My mate is not well... versed in the language you speak. In your tongue, we are called ruhks, or rocs. You may call us either one, for I imagine that you would not enjoy us laughing every time you try to say the words 'anka kuşu', no?"** the female roc said, laughter clearly heard in her voice.

Just as Harry was about to say something, the male, Uçan Kaya, appeared from the side of the portrait, and landed gracefully in the nest. Cuddling up next to his mate, he dragged his beak through her feathers, seeming to enjoy the closeness of his mate.

Again, Harry was about to say something, when Uçan Kaya caught sight of him and screeched, "**Little black bird with no good name! You not sleep! Good, good!"** turning to his mate, he nudged her gently. To Harry's amusement, she turned to look at him, and nudged him right back, which started a little nudging contest, where they tried to make the other move. Nehir Saatler won, because her mate simply wasn't big enough to move her.

Once they were done with the playful pushing and shoving, Uçan Kaya began to mess with her feathers again, while Nehir Saatler looked back at Harry.

"**Uçan Kaya wishes me to give you a proper name, little phoenix. What say you?"** she said calmly. Harry was about to answer when it struck him.

"**Qwaaak! You called me a phoenix!"** he squawked. Nehir Saatler looked at him with confusion.

"**Yes. You are a phoenix. As much as you may wish to be an anka kuşu, you cannot be,"** she said, amusement coloring her words.

"**I'm a phoenix?"** Harry gaped, shock preventing him from registering anything else.

"**Yes,"** Nehir Saatler said with confusion, "**What else would you be?"**

"**Well,"** Harry began, slightly worried, "**I was a human recently. But then I woke up one day like this. My relatives..."** here he paused, unsure of how they would react. Clearing his throat the best he could while a bird... phoenix, he continued. "**They kicked me out, because they didn't know it was me."**

Uçan Kaya, who had stopped messing with his mates feathers while listening, screeched with anger. Harry flinched, sure that he'd done something to upset the roc. Nehir Saatler began speaking before he could get too worried, however.

"**How dare they! Tossing out a phoenix! The filth! The rotten waste! I shall find them and reduce their bodies to mere carcasses! Then I shall leave the remains for the jackals to gorge themselves on! Fear not, little phoenix, you shall be avenged!"**

Harry stared in shock at the two rocs that looked like they were about to go on the warpath. Then he began laughing.

The rocs stopped screeching in anger and looked at the phoenix trilling with laughter. The beautiful sound soothed their fury, and confused them. Why was the phoenix laughing?

Pausing long enough to look at the two mates, Harry gave them his best bird smile. "**Thank you. No one's ever gotten upset for my sake before. And while it would be kind of nice to see the Dursleys get what they deserve, I'd rather they not die. Besides, no offence, but you're stuck in that painting. You can't get out. But thank you for the thought," **Harry said, feeling a warm, slightly fuzzy, feeling glowing right next to his heart.

The rocs looked at each other and shuffled in frustration. Nehir Saatler then sighed and looked at him. "**If we cannot feast on the flesh of your former caretakers, allow us to grant you a name worthy of a phoenix,"** she called out, making him look at her blue eyes again. Tilting his head, he thought. It couldn't hurt. And Remus, Sirius, and the other Marauders had another name, too. So there was nothing wrong with it.

"**Sure,"** he answered, "**What did you have in mind?"**

Nehir Saatler looked at him. He found himself suddenly unable to look away from her eyes, which weren't so sky blue anymore. The blue morphed into a clear, almost white blue, that then dived into a dark, purplish blue that he had never seen before.

Feeling chills, Harry tried to wrench his gaze from hers, only to find himself unable to move an inch.

"**I, Nehir Saatler, the one that watches the River, take from you the name of your human birth, and give to you the name the River has deemed right."**

Harry felt a horrible wrenching in his gut, and suddenly couldn't breathe. There was a horrible, gaping hole in the middle of him. He could barely feel his heart beating, knowing that Nehir Saatler really had just taken his name away from him. It shouldn't have been possible, but somehow, this roc had taken his name! He felt panic begin to well up within him.

"**From the skies above, and the ground below, from the fire to the west and the water from the east, from north ice to south ice, your name within your soul shall be Savaş ve Değişim Davul sesliri Biridir. Though you are called by your human name, the name of your soul shall remain close to your heart and never leave you. Grant none but the one that holds your heart captive the privilege of knowing the name your soul rejoices in."**

Harry was astonished to feel the wretched emptiness inside of him fill up, and he could feel the new name burning its way into his very being. It felt terrible and wonderful. His relief at having a name again was instinctual and instantaneous. However, to his horror, Nehir Saatler didn't stop speaking.

"**To all who speak the language of the sky, your name shall forever be known as Hayιr Küçük Karιşιklιk. Called by your human name by humans, along with any other names they deem worthy of you. Called by your sky name by those who speak the language of the sky. And called by your soul name by none, excepting the one who shall hold your heart and soul within their grasp. Thus I, Nehir Saatler, the one that watches the River, grant you your names."**

A great pressure filled Harry's mind, pressing down on his thoughts. Before Harry could cry out, there was a blinding pain that rocketed through him, causing him to black out.

* * *

Lucius shot up in bed at the earthquake that shook the mansion. In the room across the hall, he could hear Narcissa crying out in shock. Throwing back the covers, he walked to the door of his room, clad only in pajama bottoms. Flinging open the door, he strode across the hall in three strides, just in time to catch his wife, who fell through the door to her room. He almost tutted in displeasure at her habit of leaving her bedroom door open, when another tremor shook the very foundations of the house.

Gripping his wife close, he began to stagger down the hall to the Blue Room, which had the nearest Floo point. Watching in shock as the marble bust of his too-many-greats-to-remember-grandmother fell to the ground, he pulled Narcissa behind him, trying to reach the room as fast as he could. For the first time, he was horribly pleased that Draco wasn't at home. Draco's room was in a different hallway of the Mansion, which was too far away to be reasonably reached in an earthquake.

Bursting into the Blue Room, he walked through the current maze of furniture to the fireplace, where he grabbed a handful of Floo powder and threw it into the fireplace. Shouting, "Maison de Blanc!" he pushed Narcissa through the green flames. Knowing that she would land in the foyer of the Malfoy's French mansion, Lucius was about to do the same when he saw the little black phoenix, somehow still sleeping on the cushioned pedestal he had set it on the evening before.

Cursing, he walked back over to the little bird and picked it up. Almost running over to the fireplace, he grabbed some more of the Floo powder, and threw it almost violently down at the fire, shouting for the House of White as he stepped through the flames.

Lucius was unaware of the blue and gold eyes watching him from the portrait on the wall.

He staggered through the fireplace and almost fell at his wife's feet. Clutching the small phoenix to his chest, he was glad to feel the poor thing's heart beating strongly. He had originally been worried that the bird might die during the night if no one was there to watch over it.

Looking up, he and Narcissa locked eyes. Seeing the tears in his best friend's eyes, he reached out with one arm and pulled her to his chest. Pressing a gentle kiss to the top of her head, he began to rock back and forth, allowing Narcissa to cry on his shoulder.

Even though they were married, their marriage contract had only required that they have an heir. While they had never taken any lovers, Lucius and Narcissa still never slept in the same room. They were simply incompatible as lovers.

However, that didn't stop him from comforting her. If he had to marry someone he didn't love, than he was glad he got to marry his best friend.

Leading Narcissa over to one of the sofas in the room, he pulled her down next to him. He didn't want to disturb the phoenix, but he needed to comfort his wife. Setting the phoenix down next to him, he then wrapped both arms around the woman next to him, simply holding her as she cried. Again, he was glad that Draco was at Hogwarts. He didn't need to see his parents in such a state.

"Shh, shh. It's all right," Lucius murmured softly. Letting Narcissa weep out all of the fear she felt, he began to run his fingers through her hair. It always amazed him that he'd married a woman with hair almost as blonde as his own. Although it pretty much ensured that Draco would be blonde.

As Narcissa's tears began to dry, he began to focus his mind on what could have caused the earthquake. It didn't make sense. There were no fault lines near the mansion, and the building had been built with strength in mind. For an earthquake of such magnitude to strike, in such a bizarre place, there had to be magic involved. But he couldn't think of anything that might have caused such a strange occurrence!

"Lucius?"

Blinking, he pulled his mind away from the strangeness of the night. Looking at Narcissa, he cocked an eyebrow.

"What are we going to tell Draco?"

For the first time in years, Lucius swore. Rather colorfully, too, if he might add.

* * *

Uçan Kaya glanced over at his mate. She was pouting. It was rather amusing.

"Three separate names? Isn't that a bit much?" he asked calmly, although the laughter he was holding back was still clear in his voice.

Nehir Saatler fluffed up her feathers and watched as the humans ran through the room, leaving in a swirl of green fire. They were both curious about the fact that the male came back and took Hayιr Küçük Karişiklik with him, despite it being quite dangerous for him to do so.

Huffing, she said, "I was feeling a little dramatic. Besides, he shouldn't have to go around with that silly human name when he could have a perfectly good bird name!"

He laughed gently at her defensiveness, knowing that she wouldn't take offence to it.

* * *

Ìntikam had been having no luck with Kâhin's demented device, when he felt a swelling of Dark magic far to the southwest. Cursing vividly, he transformed into a savannah cat that was known for its running abilities. As a cheetah, he began to run as fast as he could towards the disturbance. While most cheetahs wouldn't be able to run for as long as he would need to, he was a djinn, which had many perks, including an insane amount of stamina.

Racing across the countryside, he begged Karanlık in his mind to _please, please,_ allow Siyahlι to be alright. He would never forgive himself if the phoenix was hurt because he had failed to protect him. Racing over the ground, and leaping over any obstacles, Ìntikam dashed over and around anything that might obstruct him from reaching his charge. Almost crashing into one of the many metal contraptions that mortal were fond of, he swore.

"Kιlιçlar ve Oklar!"

Stumbling, he fell to the ground. Without waiting to see if anyone stopped to check if he was alright, he picked himself up and began running again. He couldn't stop for anything. He _had_ to reach Siyahlι!

* * *

Nehir Saatler was watching the room beyond the painting shift and move. It was both amusing and worrying that the Naming of Hayιr Küçük Karişiklik caused an earthquake. Amusing, because it was funny to see all of the human perches shift and move. Worrying, because it was a sign of just how powerful the phoenix really was. While the River had shown her how important he was, it couldn't show her how dangerous.

Just as she was about to turn and watch her sleeping mate, she felt the River tug at her Sight. With a shiver of unease, Nehir Saatler pulled away the barrier between herself and the power that rested within her.

She was granted an image of the scales again, although this time, there was something large lurking in the shadows of the vision. It watched the proceedings of the drama taking place on the split black scales. Nehir Saatler watched in horror as the creature began to approach the scales unnoticed. While the two sides of the Dark fought and battled for Hayιr Küçük Karişiklik and the man, the beast crept closer and closer.

Somehow remaining unknown to her, the beast slowly reared up behind the side of the scales with the swirls of sand. Looking over the proceedings, the beast let out a ferocious roar that split the air. All of the beings on the scales, Light and Dark side, turned to look at the being that was standing right behind them. The creature bellowed for a second time, ripping the air with the noise.

Nehir Saatler watched as the unknown beast lashed out and attacked. She ripped herself from the River forcefully, not able to bear watching the slaughter that was to come.

The roc knew what this vision meant. By naming the phoenix, she unintentionally changed the way things were going to be. Before, the snake-man had been going to threaten the man's child. Now, a beast was going to come and do something. She just hoped she hadn't doomed them all.

* * *

Thousands of miles to the south, beyond the English Channel, past the grand plains of the Spanish country, even past the sands of the great desert, the trees of the African jungle, and further south than that, deep within the caves of the far southern mountains, a powerful creature stirred. It couldn't remember its' name, or even what it was. All it knew was that the time had come for it to awake.

"_Daaaaarrrk? Whhhhheeeerrrreee isssss thhhhhheeeeee Daaaaaaarrrrrk? Nooooooooorrrrrrthhhh? Thennnnn I gooo noooorrrrthhhhh."_

A dry whispering sound began to ring throughout the cave the creature had slept in. As it began to make its way out of the cave it had been hiding in for centuries, its' large horn like tusks scraped against the sides of the tunnels. Ignoring the slight pain the scraping caused, the beast kept traveling, knowing that it needed to reach the delicious Dark that it had sensed.

"_Fiiiiinnnnnnnd thhhheeeee Daaaaarrrrrrrk. Prrrrrrraaaaaaiiiiiissssssss eee thhhheeee Daaaarrrrrrk. Guuuaaaarrrrd thhheeee Daaaaarrrrrk."_

Pausing, it scented the air with its tongue, like a snake. Tasting the delicious aroma of the Dark, it hissed in anger at the bitter tang of the Light that tainted the Dark. Grating its tusks against the walls of its self-imposed prison, it began to prepare.

"_Brrrreeeeeaaaaak thhhheeee Llllliiiigghhht! Deeeeevvvvvooouuuurrrr thhheee Llliiiiigggghhhhhhttttt! Nnnnnooootttthhhhiiiinnnnngg ggg ssssshhhhhhaaaaaaalllll sssssttoooooop thhhhheeeee Daaaaaaarrrrrrrk frrrrroooooommm clllllllaaaaaaaiiiiiimmmmiii iinnnnnngggg whhhhaaaattt beeellloooonnnnggggssss toooo iiit!"_

Sliding gracefully through the tunnels, the creature allowed the feel of the Dark guide it. Nothing would prevent the creature from reaching the Dark. It would devour the Light. It would break the Light. It would make the Light suffer for tainting the exquisite magic of the Dark.

Sliding its tongue across its lips, the creature prepared itself to meet the being that it had locked itself away for. There was truly nothing that would stand, crawl, fly or swim in its way. It _would_ find its Dark.

* * *

**Oh my gosh. That took forever! But I'm finally done! I'm sorry it took so long to update, but I can only write about 1-2 K every two hours, which is how long I have on the computer at the library. So it's gonna take a while for any new updates after this.**

**Vote on the poll for Draco's three lovers! I've gotten some interesting results so far, and some ideas have been floating 'round, but nothing concrete yet. And! And! I want everyone to tell me what they think the creature Nehir Saatler saw is! The first person to correctly guess what it is will get a copy of the drawing I'm going to make of it! Yes, I am bribing you to guess.**

**Well, I think that's all. I hope you liked it, and I hope you tell me your thoughts. By the way, I know Harry has a lot of new names now. But you should see his reaction in the next chapter!**

**Also! I'm going to be correcting a little bit of the spelling in Chapter Two, so don't worry about rereading it. I'm just fixing a word or two.**

* * *

**Auf Wiedersehen!**


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